Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Johanson and Maureen Smith.
Daniel and Maureen, please share your story with us.
I first started Scapi Magazine five years ago as a way to cover local arts in Chicago and other cities across the US, but soon learned that was a huge undertaking, so closed up shop until February of 2017, when Maureen and I started the Scapi Radio podcast. We realized this was the most effective way to accomplish meaningful local interviews for the people currently making in our networks, and continue the podcast to this day, averaging 3-4 episodes a week for a total of 230 episodes. We did a stint of event producing last summer called Scapi Sessions, and have an ongoing intimate performance series in our apartment called Scapi Studio.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The podcast itself is ridiculously easy, by the nature of how we designed it. Most of the interviews we do in our apartment, we keep the format information so that we can churn them out quickly without spending ages editing, and we find that the people we talk to and what we talk to them about are things we’re genuinely interested in. It was in fall of 2017 when we reintroduced article publishing, and with events that things got tricky. Finding a way to make this project sustainable is hard as we stay dedicated to keeping it hyperlocal.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Scapi Magazine – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Scapi Magazing is a local arts and politics magazine for the city of Chicago. We want to revolutionize arts journalism while being a part of the move towards a robust and diverse left political ideology. We’re known for multimedia publishing, flexibility, and a bit of oddball spontaneity, like our window cats project, a video series featuring our cats in windows and featuring “chill” aesthetic tracks from local musicians
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We want to keep doing what we’re doing, but more of it. We want to produce in a way that’s sustainable, and we want to make a difference in the way that we keep record and practice journalism locally. We want to provide resources, gear, space, and press for local makers to put out artistic projects in a space that is frequently filled with moneymaking schemes and pay to plays.
Contact Info:
- Website: scapimag.com
- Email: scapimag@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/scapimag
- Facebook: facebook.com/scapimag
- Twitter: twitter.com/scapmag
- Other: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/scapi-radio/id1205647365?mt=2
Image Credit:
Scapi Magazine, Logo by Zach Harris of Birds and Kings, Glitter Moneyyy, Beauty School, Scapi Magazine presents Hearing in Color: Reflections
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